Neighbor Kills Dog, Threatens Its Owner, Authorities Report

February 25, 1986|By David Enscoe, Staff Writer

A man who neighbors say patroled a Haverhill neighborhood dressed in jungle fatigues and toting a shotgun was arrested Monday after shooting a Doberman pinscher and threatening to kill the dog`s owner, authorities said.

Leroy Moses Troyer, 43, of Woodland Avenue, was held in the Palm Beach County Jail on $10,000 bail after sheriff`s deputies coaxed him from his house shortly before noon, sheriff`s spokesman Mike McNamee said. Troyer was charged with cruelty to animals and aggravated assault with a weapon.

``He seems to think he`s Rambo,`` said Allen Tagner, a neighbor. ``He dresses up in fatigues, puts black under his eyes, and creeps through our neighborhood every night.``

At 11 a.m. on Sunday, Troyer stood on a platform in his back yard and fired his shotgun over an 8-foot fence at his neighbor`s Doberman, McNamee said. The blast struck the 6-month-old female in the back and killed her.

When the dog`s owner, Edward Pierce, ran outside to investigate, Troyer pointed the gun at him and said, ``You`re next,`` McNamee said. Pierce ducked inside his house and called the Sheriff`s Office.

McNamee said road patrol units sent to Troyer`s house were unable to find him. He said officers returned at 10 p.m. Sunday with a warrant and ordered Troyer to surrender. When he refused, deputies ``backed off,`` McNamee said.

``He had used his gun once and we weren`t going to let it happen again,`` McNamee said. ``We considered him armed and extremely dangerous.``

On Monday, nearly 12 hours after the shooting, Troyer surrendered peacefully after speaking with sheriff`s Lt. Tom Thompson on the phone, McNamee said. Thompson had called and left a message on Troyer`s answering machine.

Tagner said that Troyer does not have a job and spends hours each day monitoring a police scanner. ``Nobody seems to know how he supports himself,`` he said.

``We`ve filed close to 90 complaints against him`` said Tagner, who has filed two assault charges against Troyer. ``He`s . . . followed my family to work. Yesterday he shot a dog. What`s he going to do next?``

Tagner said that deputies who responded to complaints about Troyer admit the man has problems, but claim they are powerless to do anything about it.

``All he ever gets is a slap on the wrist. Until now, the detectives have always treated the complaints as neighbor disputes.``

McNamee said deputies can`t arrest Troyer on misdemeanor complaints unless the crimes are committed in their presence.

``All we can do is take the cases to the State Attorney`s Office,`` he said. ``It`s up to (the neighbor) to file the complaint.``

Kim Shipley, who lives with her parents across the street from Troyer, said she and her family have been afraid of Troyer ever since he moved into the neighborhood two years ago.

``He used to come to our door at 5 a.m. and cuss at us,`` she said. ``He`d accuse the kids of riding across his driveway. Everybody`s scared of him.``